Running - Working Out

January 15, 2011

I returned to Weight Watchers today after 7 months off - there's no pregnancy program, so I stopped going after the first trimester. Low & behold, there's a new program now, PointsPlus(r), which is good because it will help me retrain my brain and motivate to learn something new. What's cool about the new program is that it's all nutrient-based, which means not counting calories. Points are developed by counting protein, fat, carbs & fiber. So low energy density foods will have lower points values and nutrient-poor foods will have higher points values.

Of the 50 pounds (ouch!) I gained during pregnancy, 30 of it is off. That's good. So, 20 more to go to get to pre-pregnancy weight and then 50 after that to get to goal. Here's the plan:

Plan meals. Since Tapole's arrival, meals have been hit or miss and sometimes not well-planned. Keeping my milk supply up means making sure I'm getting good nutrition, so planning is good. Perhaps we'll take a real adventure to the grocery store together this week!

Exercise 4-5 times per week. Yearly target of 200 workouts. Milestones include Little Rock Marathon Relay on March 6 and OKC Memorial Half Marathon on May 1. (won't be my best time, but it'll be the third year in a row, so I need to do it.)

Embrace the new program and find ways to include Power Foods in every meal & snack. So even when I want to be indulgent, include Power Foods (essentially low energy density foods - formerly known as Core Foods) in the rest of the meal/day.

Attend a meeting a week. I know meetings motivate me. I have the best leader - Heather -at the Kelly & Danforth location in Edmond. She leads meetings on Thursday (5:30 p.m.) and Saturday (7:00 a.m., 8:30 a.m., 10:00 a.m.).

So, there you have it. I owe it to myself to get back on track. And, I owe it to the Hub & Tadpole to be the best wife & mom I can be. I can achieve that by being healthy - physically, mentally and emotionally. For me, it's amazing what physical health can do to influence the other two.

Watch for more updates.

Related posts: Weight Watchers on CNotes (note, the last few entries from 2010, we were pregnant so I wasn't pushing weight loss)

November 05, 2010

Learned something really interesting in prenatal yoga class last night. Ok, I thought it was interesting and hope you will, too.

Our instructor was giving us an exercise during relaxation and she told us she wanted to think about Choices. This exercise is something she learned in yoga instructor training.

The next time you're stressed out about something or find yourself in a situation that isn't going your way, what if you re-framed the situation and thought, "How would I feel if I chose this route?"

An easy example is running late ... sitting a stoplight, freaking out that you're going to be late. (happens to me) What if I thought, "What if I chose to be late?" What would the positives be to being late to wherever I was headed?

Since we're only about 4-5 weeks out from delivery and since I"m high risk because I'm on blood thinners, we've tried to imagine almost every delivery scenario ... from our plan, to au naturale because we can't stop the blood thinner early enough ... to a C-section, which I'd like to avoid, but could be reality. I hope I remember this exercise. What if we chose this delivery method? Then, I could focus on the positives and feel better about something the Hub & I won't have 100% control of ...

Karen, our yoga instructor, also said this is a great lesson to apply to parenthood. Yep - I can see me trying to imagine, "What if I chose to wake up every two hours?" Hmm ... maybe she was thinking of a different scenario.

May 10, 2010

well, no weigh in for #15. Why? Well, we were out of town. Como, Miss. to be exact for a wedding. I usually find a meeting to get to when I travel, however the closest was 35 miles away. And, since I ahd wedding duties that morning, no weigh in.

#16 - Plus 1. I can live with it, but need to seriously buckle down. Good talk & good recipes in the meeting. Back to running. May pull out the bike. Seriously. And, brought my lunch today. Good stuff.

April 26, 2010

Quite happy to be headed back in the right direction and moving off center a bit. Given the two previous days' race prep including increased carbs, reducing fiber all of which can play havoc on the scale.

I finished the half with a time of 2:58 - slower than I wanted, but I felt good & it was a great day to run! Congrats to everyone who ran/walked/cheered - it was a beautiful day in OKC.

Headed to a wedding in Mississippi this weekend. Need to stay strong :) Can't wait to see my Little Rock friends and have a grand ole time!

April 23, 2010

This Sunday is the Oklahoma City National Memorial Marathon weekend. I'm running the half again and the Hub is running his first full. Last night, we attended the April meeting of Landrunners, one of OKC's running club and the group we've trained with the past two years. And, now, I feel like a total slacker.

Do you know Amy Palmiero-Winters? She spoke at the meeting last night and is an ultra-runner. She's on the US National Women's Ultra Team. She runs 24 hours straight several times per year. She runs several 100-mile races every year. She is a genetic anomaly. Oh, and the lower part of her left leg was amputated. She's not a the National Paralympic Ultra Team. She's on the team with able-bodied women. Her last ultra race? She won. Flat out. Not the women's division. Beat the first man by 13 miles. AN ENTIRE HALF MARATHON! Oh, and she also won the AAU's Sullivan Award, the premiere award for amateur athletes in the U.S. Previous recipients include Michael Johnson, Peyton Manning, Michelle Kwan and more.

Some of you may remember the amazing sight I saw while waiting at the exchange for the Little Rock Marathon relay ... a woman wearing a prosthetic leg pushing a kid who appeared to have CP in a wheelchair? And, running a good pace? That was Amy. When she travels to races she finds a teammate to run with - Ben in Little Rock. Alexa this year in OKC. Kelly last year in OKC. Kelly is participating in the half marathon in OKC this year by herself. She'll push her new race wheelchair 13.1 miles. And, she'll probably beat me.

Wow. What an inspiration. I love the running royalty descent on OKC this weekend including Amy, Joan Benoit-Samuelson, Bart Yasso and more, more, more. These running stars will lead a "fun" & "easy" 3-4 mile "jog" on Saturday. At about a 9 minute pace. Well, since that's speedwork for me, I'm skipping it. But, maybe next year.

I have no excuse to slack on speed. While Amy has run her whole life, she didn't plan on losing part of her leg after a motorcycle accident. She could have sat around & felt sorry for herself, or limited her activity. Instead, she said, "No, I'm taking it to another level." Her prosthetic doesn't hamper her competitive level. And, as she inspires young people across the country by participating in races in OKC's, she is changing those young people and ALL of the runners around her. If you ever have a chance to see Amy speak, watch her run or be her teammate, GO FOR IT.

48 workouts. I need to check my calendar, but definitely exceeded this one. More like 60 workouts.

120 minutes running straight. I haven't quite hit this one. So close. In 2 hours of running, I usually walk 5-8 minutes. I can live with this.

48 home cooked dinners. Done. The last few weeks I haven't been as good, but getting back on track with cooking from home.

36 lunches brought from home. All the dinner cooking for the last 12 weeks translated into about 40 lunches brought from home.

We set new goals a few weeks ago to stay on track with seasons, I'll need to share my spring goals with you a little later.

All in all, I'm happy with where I am today. Ready to tackle the OKC Memorial Half Marathon on Sunday. Should be a beautiful day for a run. This is about finishing, not time. And, cheering on the Hub as he completes his first marathon - I'm SO impressed!!!

April 06, 2010

Nothing new & magic this week. In fact, the night before weighing in, I had a couple of glasses of wine, a couple of ounces of cheese & a bunch of grapes. Grapes can be danger food for me. I have to ration them out. While no one certainly ever got fat from grapes, they are not the lowest point snack in the world. Good for you, but I have to watch that I don't eat the whole bag/container. Good thing the Hub loves them so I can't snarf them all.

Have fallen a bit off the cooking wagon. Need to get back on that wagon. Running is going well ~ and the last long run was Saturday morning on a perfect day. Mid-40s, no wind. Wow. What a difference. Hopefully, we'll have that kind of weather for the OKC Memorial Marathon.

March 31, 2010

That's ok, since I've had a good run the last few weeks. So, I just keep plugging away. Drinking my water, staying within my points & what not.

Weighing-in on Friday this week since we have our last long training run on Saturday morning. 11 miles. Then, taper down. 3 weeks until the half. And, the Hub's first full. Big day ahead.

On another cool note for the runners. New running store in Oklahoma City ... Red Coyote. Owned by fiancees Burke & Jon, the store is GREAT, named after their dog Pancho who has mean retail skills and already very supportive of the local running community. And, for Brooks-fanatics ... the brand is seeking new wear-testers. Fill out the survey HERE.

March 20, 2010

I was quite surprised by this number. First off, since I'd lost a good bit last week & on a different scale than my normal meeting, I'd prepped myself for minimal loss or even a small gain. Even though I've exercised & stayed within my WW points this week. Even though my week started mid-girls trip to the beach. And, I drank wine & ate snacks. I just tracked and planned for it. The surprise was on me! Yay!

A little celebration of me this week at my WW meeting. Heather, our illustrious leader, asked what works for me. And, while I mentioned that last year had been difficult, the meetings & objective weekly weigh-in work for me. I break the WW rule of weighing at home. I do it almost every day. But, those don't count. The official weigh-in that comes with the sticker at my WW meeting is the real one. And, then, if I've taken the time to go weigh-in, I might as well stay for the meeting. I've already done the hard part: getting up & driving to the scale. When the weather is nicer, I should probably bike or run to the scale. But not today.

Yoga twice this week - would have gone today except the celebratory First Day o' Spring blizzard has arrived - has helped me get focus some more. Running is going well, even if the sleeping isn't. Lack of sleep is another prohibiter to weight loss - scientifically proven. This time change has really thrown me for a loop and thrown my sleep cycle off. So, my longest run during the week was in the evening. I'm not a good evening exerciser - too full from lunch, less energy in general. But, I pushed through to 6 miles so I can run 11 in the snow tomorrow.

So, the Hub & I had some grand plans for the day. Errand running, checking stuff out. Looks like we're homebound. I'll have to get creative with the menu since I haven't been to the grocery in a couple of weeks for real shopping. Maybe Mexican pizza for lunch & pasta for supper.

If the snow stays like this, I'll be riding with the Hub to tomorrow's long run. I have 11 to do & he has 20. I'll just wait for him in the car because I don't drive in this mess. Happy Spring.

March 08, 2010

Well, it looks like 2 posts in one day, but it's not. Somehow, last week's post was saved in drafts. Oh well, here's #7 from Saturday.

MINUS 1.4 pounds

Still headed in the right direction and at a good pace. Right after WW on Saturday, I jumped on the road to Little Rock (wish it was about 30-45 miles closer, that extra half hour is a killer) for an overnight with my girlfriends & our relay team for the Little Rock Marathon.

Team Name: Logistics Sisters

Logistics originally came about as an informal committee of 4 chicks who worked together on a special event. We needed a place to chat, unwind, compare notes while planning a large event for the organization for which we worked. We scheduled our happy hours & working sessions under the title "Logistics Committee" for 5:30 every Thursday. We quickly moved from a "committee", as such, to calling ourselves "Logistics Sisters." After I moved away, another colleague joined in my place and the 5 of us have regularly gotten together since then.

We've been friends for about 5 years now. I'll post separately the race, etc., but now you know the story behind the name.

This week's challenge laid out for us at WW? Try 10, count 'em 10, new foods. Hmm ... I'm always up for new foods & am rarely in a rut, so I'm going to try new combinations of foods. Today's lunch? hummus, light cheddar, a chicken italian sausage & black beans in a tortilla. Protein, carbs, fat & high fiber in a handy-dandy wrap. I don't typically put sausage in my wraps, but I know I have a hard time getting enough protein. So, we'll see.

Personal goals this week:

Try 10 new or new combinations of foods

Work out twice on my trip this week

Yoga twice

Go to WW meeting when I'm out of town this week

I met the yoga goal last week, finally. And, I believe, I'll hit it again this week.

More travel this week. Again, for fun. To see some sorority sisters, many of whom I haven't seen in more than 5 years! At the beach. Please let it be warm. Please let me come back to OKC with a bit of a tan.